New York: spatial sound and Broadway

Automatically translated from the Polish original.

Yesterday was a source of so many impressions that, as a classic once said, “the guy is in shock”. It started with a conversation about a very exciting collaboration, the effects of which you will see soon, and a little later…

I had the opportunity to visit an absolutely amazing place! The private studio of composer, mix engineer and spatial audio technology lecturer David Quang-Minh Nguyen. David composed so-called acousmatic music before Dolby Atmos was even a topic - the discussion with him on the use of acoustic space as a means of creative expression opened my mind to a completely new world of unexplored possibilities, and the tools David uses in his work gave me dozens of ideas, some of which will probably crystallize into several actual concepts. In short: what I heard and learned there blew my mind and inspired me to act.

For the second time, my grey matter was splattered on the walls of the Schubert Theater on Broadway in the evening, and that was due to exposure to the unequivocal musical superproduction that is Alicia Keys’s Hell’s Kitchen. It was out of this world in every respect: compositions, arrangements, lyrics, singing, dancing, acting, band, visuals, sound..

I sat squeezed into my seat for 2.5 hours - 3/4 of the show with tears in my eyes, 1/4 simply crying. I recommend this experience to anyone who will have the opportunity to visit New York.

Finally, a bittersweet reflection (it will be a bit “about the industry” but I think it applies to a broader range of issues): in Poland, in many respects, we have nothing to be ashamed of anymore. On the contrary, our brand-new infrastructure, top-notch technology - we didn’t even notice when we overtook those we still have complexes about…

A musical on Broadway showed me, however, that it’s not about the conditions, because I’ve done both larger and smaller plays in similarly excellent technical conditions, but significantly better in terms of location. It’s also not about the money, because economically, something like this could be done in Poland without a problem - ticket prices are not prohibitive even for a Polish audience… So what’s it about? I don’t know.

Certainly, to some extent, it’s about the willingness and approach - that famous letter “ć” in the word “jakość” (quality) which we so often lack… and what else? Maybe skills? If so, it’s not due to a lack of talents… Maybe it’s that talented people are not supported, and are often even suppressed and pushed into the ground in the name of various fears, often passed down from generation to generation? I don’t know. And I don’t know if I even want to know.